The 64-player draw of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia is down to two players: sixth seed Simona Halep and eighth seed Elina Svitolina.
Romania’s Halep has established herself as one of the favorites for the upcoming Roland Garros, as now she’s into her second straight final and will try to complete the Rome-Madrid double. Against seed No.15 Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the semifinals, Halep produced a clean performance with just one unforced error in the second set and a total of just nine. In the second set her percentage of first serves that went in was awe-inspiring 93, while she lost just two points behind her first serve and won the sole point she played on her second serve. Final score: 7-5 6-1.
Ukraine’s Svitolina played just five games in her semifinal against third seed Garbine Muguruza, as the Spaniard retired from the match citing a neck injury.
Halep and Svitolina have played just once so far and that one meeting was way back in 2013, when Halep defeated Svitolina on hardcourts in Sofia, Bulgaria, 6-1 6-1.
After bringing us dozens of awesome photos from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Women’s Tennis Blog’s photographer Jimmie48 is now already on his way to the French Open, so stay tuned!
Simona was the clear favorite but Elina took her chances. Four titles in 2017. Impressive for the young Ukrainian. We’ll see more from her soon.